1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of corner reflectors for heat conservation and, more particularly, to the use thereof in a living environment and other applications.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, individuals prefer to be and feel warm in cool weather. Ideally, the indoor temperature would be increased to maintain a warm ambient temperature condition. However, there are usually significant energy costs associated with maintaining this desirable condition. To address these energy concerns, homes and businesses have lowered thermostat settings to save money and lower carbon dioxide emissions. Of course, this action results in a failure to maintain the warm ambient temperature condition. To counter the lowered thermostat setting, individuals may opt for the installation of small space heaters, usually powered by electricity or a hydrocarbon based fuel. In some countries, a small charcoal burner may be used. However, this results in only localized heating with still some type of electrical or fuel cost associated therewith. Of course, there are inherent fire risks involved with the operation of some such space heaters. The only alternative has been for individuals to make clothing choices that are conducive to trapping and maintaining body heat, such as, by layering or wearing a sweater and thermal underwear. However, this adds to bulkiness, which an individual may view as uncomfortable.
People radiate enough heat that they would shortly go hypothermic if they weren't getting most of it back from the environment including clothing. Some of that radiated heat hits the person again directly (e.g., one finger to the next) and is immediately reabsorbed. Most heat hits their clothing, which is so close that it is not that much cooler, so reradiates back almost as much as was lost. However, the temperature of the inside of the clothing depends on the net amount of heat radiated by the outside of the clothing. As even the outside of clothing is warmer than the walls, ceiling, floor and furniture, there is still a net loss of heat by radiation from the clothing.
As is known in the art, people can be more comfortable in a room with warm walls and cool air than they are in a room with cool walls and warm air. The reason for this is that objects radiate energy or infrared heat at a rate proportional to the temperature to the fourth power. Therefore, a warm object gives off substantially more heat by radiation than a cool object. For example, it has not been generally realized that an average-sized adult human body gives off about eight hundred watts of heat power by radiation, though part is emitted in such a direction that it strikes another area of the body. Most of the heat power given off by the body is returned to the body via radiation back from the environment, including a person's own clothing, however, the environment is usually cooler so that it returns less radiant heat energy than is given off by the body. Basically, the cooler the surroundings, the less heat a person receives back via thermal radiation. Thus, by radiant heat transfer, a person can lose more heat to cool surroundings than they get back from the surroundings that they feel uncomfortable, even at air temperatures that one would think should feel comfortable.
There are two main kinds of retro-reflectors in common use today, namely, the cat's eye and corner cube reflector. The cat's eye reflector uses transparent spheres with a reflective base to project focused incoming light back in the direction it came. Such reflectors would not be good for heat reflection unless the transparent sphere was good at transmitting at infrared wavelengths. A typical cube corner kind of retro-reflector is used in automobile tail light reflectors and allows light to penetrate the material and then uses total internal reflection to change the light direction three times in one cube to send it back in the incoming direction. However, this variety of corner reflector is neither intended nor adapted for heat reflection.
It is, therefore, desirable to overcome the above problems and others by providing a system and method for conserving heat dissipated by a person situated within a cool environment.